Showing posts with label emergency. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Signs of the Times. Wicked Weather.

Reporting the Signs of the Times, here is a bit on how drastically the weather is changing worldwide. Due to these changes, you and your families need to prepare your home and your family in case of emergency. Prepare your go-bags, bug-out bags, or 72 hour kits so that you can get out in a hurry, should you need to do so. Also, prepare your food and water storage in case of contamination or shortage, among other emergencies.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

California Subdivision Sinking

One by one, homes sinking in California subdivision

By Tracie Cone / The Associated Press

Published: May 15. 2013 4:00AM PST

Jagtar Singh gazes from the doorway into one of the bedrooms that collapsed as the ground gave way beneath his home in Lakeport, Calif. Shortly after Singh moved his wife, 4-year-old daughter and his parents, the hill behind his home collapsed.
Rich Pedroncelli / The Associated Press

LAKEPORT, Calif. — Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March.

The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property — manicured lawn and all — dropped 10 feet below the street.

It wasn’t long before the houses on both sides collapsed as the ground gave way in the Spivey’s neighborhood in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

“We want to know what is going on here," said Scott Spivey, a former city building inspector who lived in his four-bedroom, Tudor-style dream home for 11 years.

Eight homes are now abandoned and 10 more are under notice of imminent evacuation as a hilltop with sweeping vistas of Clear Lake and the Mount Konocti volcano swallows the subdivision built 30 years ago.

The situation has become so bad that mail delivery was ended to keep carriers out of danger.

“It’s a slow-motion disaster," said Randall Fitzgerald, a writer who bought his home in the Lakeside Heights project a year ago.

Unlike sinkholes of Florida that can gobble homes in an instant, this collapse in hilly volcanic country can move many feet on one day and just a fraction of an inch the next.

A mystery

Officials believe water that has bubbled to the surface is playing a role in the destruction. But nobody can explain why suddenly there is plentiful water atop the hill in a county with groundwater shortages.

“That’s the big question," said Scott De Leon, county public works director. “We have a dormant volcano, and I’m certain a lot of things that happen here (in Lake County) are a result of that, but we don’t know about this."

Other development on similar soil in the county is stable, county officials said.

While some of the subdivision movement is occurring on shallow fill, De Leon said a geologist has warned that the ground could be compromised down to bedrock 25 feet below and that cracks recently appeared in roads well beyond the fill.

“Considering this is a low rainfall year and the fact it’s letting go now after all of these years, and the magnitude that it’s letting go, well it’s pretty monumental," De Leon said.

County officials have inspected the original plans for the project and say it was developed by a reputable engineering firm then signed off on by the public works director at the time.

“I can only presume that they were checked prior to approval," De Leon said.

The sinkage has prompted county crews to redirect the subdivision’s sewage 300 feet through an overland pipe as manholes in the 10-acre development collapsed.

Consultant Tom Ruppenthal found two small leaks in the county water system that he said weren’t big enough to account for the amount of water that is flowing along infrastructure pipes and underground fissures, but they could be contributing to another source.

“It’s very common for groundwater to shift its course," said Ruppenthal of Utility Services Associates in Seattle. “I think the groundwater has shifted."

If the county can’t get the water and sewer service stabilized, De Leon said all 30 houses in the subdivision will have to be abandoned.

Looking for help

The owners of six damaged homes said they need help from the government.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors asked Gov. Jerry Brown to declare an emergency so funding might be available to stabilize utilities and determine the cause of the collapse. Last week, state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, wrote a letter of support asking Brown for immediate action. The California Emergency Management Agency said Brown was still assessing the situation.

The state has sent a water resources engineer and a geologist to look at the problem. Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent a representative as well.

Lake County, with farms, wineries and several Indian casinos, was shaped by earthquake fault movement and volcanic explosions that helped create the Coast Ranges of California. Clear Lake, popular for boating and fishing, is the largest fresh water lake wholly located in the state.

It is not unusual for groundwater in the region to make its way to the surface then subside. Many natural hot springs and geysers receded underground in the early 1900s and have since been tapped for geothermal power.

Homeowners now wonder whether fissures have opened below their hilltop, allowing water to seep to the surface. But they’re so perplexed they also talk about the land being haunted and are considering asking the local Native American tribe if the hilltop was an ancient graveyard.

SOURCE: http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20130515/NEWS0107/305150353/

Entire neighborhood in Northern California sinking

into the ground for unknown reason

Monday, May 13, 2013

An entire neighborhood of homes in Lakeport, Calif., is literally being swallowed by the Earth.(KABC Photo)

LAKEPORT, Calif. (KABC) -- A slow-moving disaster in a Northern California community is taking its toll on homeowners.

An entire neighborhood of homes in Lakeport is literally being swallowed by the Earth. No one knows exactly what's causing the huge cracks in the ground, but a dormant volcano could be the cause.

This all began in March when a homeowner noticed cracks snaking across walls. Those cracks turned into fractures, and within weeks, several homes were beginning to sink.

As of Monday morning, 30 homes were threatened; eight have already been abandoned and 10 are under notice of imminent evacuation.

"Anybody would be afraid of here. It's only because of the unknown. You don't know what's going to happen. I'm told I'm safe, I assume I'm safe, but does anybody really know yet?" said resident Alberta Diaz.

Officials have suspended mail delivery to keep carriers out of danger. They've also redirected sewage because manholes collapsed.

SOURCE: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=9100232

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

3 Boston Explosions. A Training Exercise?

Prior to the explosions...

“They kept making announcements on the loud speaker that it was just a drill and there was nothing to worry about,” Coach Ali Stevenson told Local 15. “It seemed like there was some sort of threat, but they kept telling us it was just a drill.” -- http://www.globalresearch.ca

"... it was odd there were bomb sniffing dogs at the start and finish lines.

“They kept making announcements to the participants do not worry, it’s just a training exercise,” Coach Ali Stevenson told Local 15.

Stevenson said he saw law enforcement spotters on the roofs at the start of the race. He’s been in plenty of marathons in Chicago, D.C., Chicago, London and other major metropolitan areas but has never seen that level of security before." -- http://www.globalresearch.ca

"Talking to people about that day, I was struck by how ready and almost rehearsed they were for this event." -- http://www.newyorker.com

Notice anything from the following screen shot of The Boston Globe on Twitter? How about the tweets regarding controlled explosions...planned controlled explosions.

Newtown Families Reportedly Seated Near Boston Marathon Explosions

Mon, April 15, 2013

"Last Mile Of Boston Marathon Dedicated To Newtown Families

Mile 26, the last mile, of the Boston Marathon was dedicated to the families of Newtown in honor of the 26 lives lost during the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on April 11, just days before the iconic race. A moment of silence — 26 seconds — was also held before the marathon in honor of the victims.

The families of Newtown were also reportedly seated in the VIP section of the race, which was near the end of the finish line — right where the explosions went off." -- http://hollywoodlife.com

"The official story sounds like nothing more than a cover story.

Here are some of the facts we know so far

1) Bomb-sniffing dogs were present at the start of the race and the finish line, even before bombs went off.

2) The reported arrest of a "Saudi national" has now been retracted. Apparently that was a mistake published by the NY Post.

3) Instead, the mainstream media is pushing a new narrative that blames "right-wing extremists" for the bombing, even without a shred of evidence to back that up.

4) It is impossible for a bomb squad to have located, analyzed, rigged and detonated the third bomb in under an hour, especially when it was located one mile away, at the Kennedy Presidential Library."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com

"For the record, the explosions seemed relatively small for a false flag, and most false flags target children in order to maximize the emotional leverage after the event. That these explosions did not target children is yet more evidence that it may not have been a false flag at all.

Either way, terrorism always works in the favor of the state. It makes presidents look presidential, and it gives the government an excuse to crack down on civil liberties all across the country.

Be wary of who ultimately gets blamed for this, especially if it's a veteran or patriot."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com

The real proof is in what happens next

Regardless of what you might think is behind this right now, the real proof will be found in what Obama calls for in response to the bombings.

If he calls for TSA on the streets of America to "keep everybody safe" at sporting events, then it's all clearly a false flag rolled out for a political purpose. It was all a pretext to justify a TSA lockdown.

If the bombing is used to frame and blame veterans, patriots or "right-wing extremists," then it's clearly a false flag, too. Veterans and patriots have been severely demonized by the Obama administration as well as the leftist media.

If the administration avoids using the bombings to roll out its political agenda, then it might have legitimately been a random terrorist attack by a deranged individual. We'll have to wait and see what Obama calls for in reaction to the attacks in order to know their true political purpose.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM?

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Security Message. Temporary Closure of U.S. Embassy Islamabad.

Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Temporary Closure of U.S. Embassy Islamabad on Monday, September 17, 2012

This security message informs U.S. citizens that public services at the
U.S. Embassy in Islamabad will be temporarily suspended on Monday,
September 17, 2012 due to the potential for demonstrations in the vicinity
of the Embassy. The Embassy will continue to make every effort to provide
emergency services to U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens should contact (92-51)
208-0000 for emergency American Citizens Services.

For more information on the risks of travel to Pakistan, please see
the Department
of State's most recent Travel Warning by clicking
here.

Updated Information on Travel and Security
Updated information on travel and security in Pakistan may be obtainedfrom
the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United
States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, on
a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S.
federal holidays). For further information, please consult the Travel
Warning for Pakistan and the Country Specific Information for Pakistan, as
well as the Worldwide Caution. You can also stay up to date by bookmarking
our Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which also contains current Travel
Warnings and Travel Alerts. Follow us on Twitter and the Bureau of Consular
Affairs page on Facebook, and download our free Smart Traveler iPhone App
to have travel information at your fingertips.

U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Pakistan are encouraged to enroll
in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). If you enroll we can keep
you up to date with important safety and security announcements and can
also help your family and friends get in touch with you in an emergency.
U.S. citizens without Internet access may enroll directly with the nearest
U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

To view emergency services to U.S. citizens in the different consular
districts, please click on the links below:

Islamabad

Karachi

Lahore

Peshawar

Contact Information for all U.S. Mission to Pakistan Posts

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is located at Diplomatic Enclave, Ramna 5; telephone (92-51) 208-0000; Consular Section telephone (92-51) 208-2700; fax (92-51) 282-2632; e-mail address:ACSIslamabad@state.gov.

The U.S. Consulate General Karachi, located at Plot No 3-5, TPX Area, Mai Kolachi Road, Karachi, provides services to U.S. citizens by appointment only. Services can be scheduled by calling (92-21) 3527-5000 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Monday-Friday; fax (92-21) 3527-5885; website: http://karachi.usconsulate.gov/; e-mail: ACSKarachi@state.gov.

The U.S. Consulate General in Lahore is located at 50- Sharah-E-Abdul Hameed Bin Badees, (Old Empress Road) near Shimla Hill Rotary; telephone (92-42) 3603-4000 or 3603-4250; fax (92-42)3603-4200; e-mail address: ACSLahore@state.gov.

The U.S. Consulate General in Peshawar is located at 11 Hospital Road, Cantonment, Peshawar; telephone (92- 1)526-8800; fax (92-91) 527-6712; e-mail address: ACSPeshawar@state.gov.

source: http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/security-091612.html

Pakistanis Try to Storm U.S. Outpost; One Is Killed

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: September 16, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — One person was killed and dozens of people were injured when anti-American protesters tried to storm the American Consulate in the southern port city of Karachi and clashed for several hours with the police and paramilitary troops on Sunday evening, rescue workers and police officials said.

The outbreak of violence came after days of peaceful demonstrations in Pakistan against the release of an American-made video mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistani officials had increased security in all major cities before Friday Prayer services, which have in the past served as flash points for protests, and until Sunday, calm had prevailed. The American Embassy here said in a message posted Sunday evening on Twitter that “all American personnel are safe and accounted for at U.S. Consulate, Karachi.”

“The United States government has absolutely nothing to do with this video,” another Twitter message by the American Embassy said. “We reject its content and its message.”

Karachi is Pakistan’s commercial capital, and the sprawling city is frequently torn by ethnic and sectarian violence. “Things usually get out of hand in Karachi,” Mehreen Zahra-Malik, an assistant editor at The News International, said in an interview.

The demonstration on Sunday was spearheaded by two groups of Shiites, a minority in Pakistan, which had urged demonstrators to march “toward” the American Consulate.

The police responded by blocking the road that leads to the American Consulate with concrete barriers and shipping containers on Sunday afternoon. Then, as the march neared, the police fired tear gas canisters into the crowd. That failed to contain waves of angry demonstrators, who grew increasingly agitated, witnesses said.

The police and Rangers, a force controlled by the Interior Ministry, then fired shots into the air as demonstrators rushed through the clouds of tear gas, trying to reach the outer boundary wall of the heavily fortified consulate building. Water cannons were also used on the protesters, who began hurling stones.

Local television broadcast images of young men falling on the roadside after being struck by water jets. One young man ran toward a police officer, who was firing warning shots in the air, and flung his arms open, daring the officer to shoot at his chest.

After battling for a few hours without entering the consulate property, the protesters dispersed. They later assembled in the Numaish Chowrangi neighborhood and staged a sit-in. Local news media reported that the demonstrators had set at least four police vehicles on fire.

Mirza Yousuf Hussain, the leader of one of the two Shiite groups that organized the protest, claimed that violence had broken out in Karachi after police opened fire on “peaceful protesters.” He said in a statement that police fire had killed the brother of the deputy secretary general of his party’s Karachi chapter. He also said two wounded workers were in critical condition. He accused high-ranking police officers of “working to protect American interests.”

read more at http://www.nytimes.com/

Pakistani Politician Warns of US Plot to Misuse Embassy Events in Libya

TEHRAN (FNA)- Deputy Head of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) Allama Ameen Shahidi condemned a film recently produced by a US-Israeli man against Islam and voiced support for Muslim protests against the movie, but meantime warned that Washington plots to misuse the relevant events in Libya.

Outrage has been growing across the Muslim world over the five-million-US dollar movie that was financed by more than 100 Jews and produced by an American-Israeli man.

On Tuesday and after a trailer of the blasphemous movie took people in Egypt to the streets, people in Libya staged similar protest rallies which led to some clashes at the US consulate in the Eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, and Washington claims that its ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three staff members of the US consulate were killed in the clashes at the consulate building.

Following the events at the US consulate in Benghazi, the US evacuated all its diplomats in Libya and several other regional countries, but it then dispatched several warships to the Libyan coasts and deployed hundreds of marines and special forces in the country under the pretext of protecting the life of the Untied States' diplomatic corps in there.

In relevant remarks on Sunday, Allama Ameen Shahidi told FNA that "the US wants to misuse the events after the attack on its embassy in Libya similar to (what it did after) the September 11 (2011) incident".

He said that attacking the US mission in Libya was an Israeli plot to divert the public opinion from the main issue which is insult to Muslims in a blasphemous movie, reminding that Israelis had earlier used a similar tactic in the September 11 attacks against the New York Twin Towers, which was later used to wage war on the two Muslim nations of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The anti-Islam film has drawn condemnation from numerous countries including Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.

read more at http://english.farsnews.com/

Protests across Pakistan against anti-Islam film

Pakistani Muslim protesters cross barbed wires as they attempt to reach the US embassy during a demonstration against the anti-Islam film in Islamabad on September 14, 2012. – AFP Photo

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of people demonstrated in cities around Pakistan on Friday to denounce an anti-Islam movie, with some urging death for the film-maker and others demanding the expulsion of US diplomats.

The low-budget movie, entitled “Innocence of Muslims”, which has sparked fury across the Muslim world, pokes fun at the Prophet Mohammed and touches on themes of paedophilia and homosexuality.

Police beefed up security around US missions in Pakistan after violent attacks on American consulates and embassies in Egypt, Libya and Yemen this week, but protests in the country’s major cities on Friday passed off largely without incident.

In the eastern city of Lahore, Hafiz Saeed, head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, seen as a front for a banned militant organisation, led a 500-strong rally against the film.

Saeed – who has a $10 million US government bounty on him – urged the Pakistan government to summon the American ambassador to protest over the film.

“We condemn this conspiracy of producing (an) anti-Islam film. Such blasphemous acts are intentional conspiracies from the US and we will not tolerate it,” he told the rally.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) organised a rally in Karachi, where around 700 party activists and supporters gathered with banners and placards bearing anti-US and anti-Israel slogans.

“Hang the filmmaker…hang the apostate,” they chanted. “Jihad is the only treatment to cure American cancer,” another slogan said.

Around 400 protesters rallied in front of Islamabad’s Red Mosque after Friday prayers, following a call from JI.

They called for the handover of Terry Jones, an American Christian pastor linked with the film, who has drawn protests in the past for burning the Quran.

“Terry Jones should be handed to us for a trial in the sharia court,” a speaker at the rally told the gathering. Sharia courts try defendants according to Islamic law.

Another speaker called for closure of the US embassy and the expulsion of the US ambassador and other diplomats from Pakistan.

Elsewhere in the capital, there were two smaller demonstrations against the film, one of which led to brief scuffles with police.

In Peshawar, the northwestern city on the edge of the lawless tribal areas where anti-US feeling runs high, around 150 gathered after Friday prayers, chanting “Death to America”.

source: http://dawn.com/2012/09/14/protests-across-pakistan-against-anti-islam-film/

Al-Qaida calls for more attacks on embassies

By AYA BATRAWY and LEE KEATH - Associated Press

CAIRO — Al-Qaida's most active branch in the Middle East called for more attacks on U.S. embassies Saturday to "set the fires blazing," seeking to co-opt outrage over an anti-Muslim film even as the wave of protests that swept 20 countries this week eased.

Senior Muslim religious authorities issued their strongest pleas yet against resorting to violence, trying to defuse Muslim anger over the film a day after new attacks on U.S. and Western embassies that left at least eight protesters dead.

The top cleric in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia denounced the film but said it can't really hurt Islam, a contrast to protesters' frequently heard cries that the movie amounts to a humiliating attack that requires retaliation. He urged Muslims not to be "dragged by anger" into violence. The head of the Sunni Muslim world's pre-eminent religious institution, Egypt's Al-Azhar, backed peaceful protests but said Muslims should counter the movie by reviving Islam's moderate ideas.

In the Egyptian capital Cairo, where the first protests against the movie that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad erupted, police finally succeeded in clearing away protesters who had been clashing with security forces for days near the U.S. Embassy. Police arrested 220 people and a concrete wall was erected across the road leading to the embassy.

No significant protests were reported in the Mideast Saturday; the only report of violence linked to the film came from Australia, where riot police clashed with about 200 protesters at the U.S. Consulate in Sydney.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, President Barack Obama paid tribute to the four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, who were killed in an armed attack on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city on Benghazi this week. He also denounced the anti-U.S. mob protests that followed.

"I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths. We stand for religious freedom. And we reject the denigration of religion - including Islam," Obama said.

"Yet there is never any justification for violence. There is no religion that condones the targeting of innocent men and women."

In Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack the night before by 20 insurgents on a sprawling British based in southern Afghanistan that killed two U.S. Marines. The Taliban said the attack was to avenge Muslims insulted by the film. It also said the attack came because Britain's Prince Harry is serving at the base, though British officials said he was far from the site of the attack and was unharmed.

Friday's demonstrations spread to more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. While most were peaceful, marches in several places exploded into violence.

In Sudan, crowds torched part of the German Embassy and tried to storm the American Embassy. Protesters climbed the walls into the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, torching cars in the parking lot, trashing the entrance building and setting fire to a gym and a neighboring American school.

Four demonstrators were killed in Tunisia, two in Sudan, one in Lebanon and one in Egypt - the first Egyptian protester to die in clashes with police since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi took up his post this summer. On Thursday, four Yemeni protesters were killed in protests that turned violent at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the most dangerous of the terror network's branches to the U.S., called the killing of Stevens "the best example" for those attacking embassies to follow.

"What has happened is a great event, and these efforts should come together in one goal, which is to expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims," the group said. It called on protests to continue in Muslim nations "to set the fires blazing at these embassies."

It also called on "our Muslim brothers in Western nations to fulfill their duties in supporting God's prophet ... because they are the most capable of reaching them and vexing them."

The U.S called the Yemen al-Qaida branch the most dangerous threat after it plotted a series of attempted attacks , including the Christmas 2009 failed bombing of a passenger jet. It has suffered a series of blows since, including the recent killing in a drone strike of its number two-leader, Saeed al-Shihri. Yemen's U.S.-backed government has been waging an offensive against the group, taking back territory and cities in the south that the group's fighters seized last year.

So far, there has been no evidence of a direct role by al-Qaida in the protests.

U.S. and Libyan officials are investigating whether the protests were a cover for militants, possibly al-Qaida sympathizers, to carry out a coordinated attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and kill Americans. Washington has deployed FBI investigators to try and track down militants behind the attack.

The United States sent an elite, 50-member Marine unit to Yemen's capital to bolster security at the embassy there, which protesters broke into on Thursday and then tried again to assault Friday. A similar team was dispatched to Tripoli, Libya, on Wednesday after the deadly attack the night before on the Benghazi consulate.

But the Sudanese government said Saturday it had refused to allow a similar Marine deployment to the embassy in Khartoum. Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti declined the request, saying Sudan is capable of protecting diplomatic missions, the state news agency said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Sudan's government "has recommitted itself both publicly and privately to continue to protect our mission." She said the U.S. has requested additional security precautions.

Later in the day, the State Department issued a travel warning for Sudan and Tunisia, ordering home non-essential personnel and family members of staff at posts in both countries over security concerns.

The department added that while Sudan's government has taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain there and have threatened to attack Western interests. The terrorist threat level remains critical, it said.

Elsewhere in the region, security was increased Saturday at several spots that had been targeted.

Police in Lebanon beefed up their presence around U.S. fast food restaurants Saturday, after angry crowds Friday set fire to a KFC and a Hardee's restaurant in the port city of Tripoli. In Tunisia, the U.S. Embassy compound and school were surrounded by police and army vehicles Saturday.

The protests were sparked by an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a pedophile. A 14-minute "trailer" for the movie, dubbed into Arabic, was posted on YouTube.

The top religious authority in Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheik, condemned the movie on Saturday but said it "will not harm" Islam or Muhammad.

"Muslims should not be dragged by wrath and anger to shift from legitimate to forbidden actions. By this, they will unknowingly fulfill some aims of the film," he said.

The head of al-Azhar, Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, called on the United Nations to take a stand against hate speech, pointing out that the world body has done so in defense of Jewish people.

He said that while defending the Prophet Muhammad is a duty for all Muslims - it should be "not only through peaceful protests ... but also through reviving his teachings in all walks of life and spreading his moderate ideas."

In the U.S., the man behind the movie was questioned at a California sheriff's station early Saturday by federal probation officers investigating whether he had violated terms of his five-year probation. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula wasn't arrested or detained.

read more at http://www.thestate.com

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/09/15/2442669/egypt-clears-protesters-from-us.html#.UFZeu42PVK0#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/09/15/2442669/egypt-clears-protesters-from-us.html#.UFZeu42PVK0#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/09/15/2442669/egypt-clears-protesters-from-us.html#.UFZeu42PVK0#storylink=cpy

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

7.6 Magnitude Earthquake Shook Costa Rica and a Wide Area of Central America

Powerful Earthquake Reported in Costa Rica

By DANICA COTO

NOSARA, Costa Rica September 5, 2012 (AP)

A powerful, magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and a wide swath of Central America on Wednesday. There were no immediate accounts of injuries, but communications were down near the epicenter.

The USGS said the 8:42 a.m. quake struck about 38 miles (60 kilometers) from the town of Liberia. It was centered about 25 miles (41 kilometers) below the surface. The magnitude initially was estimated at 7.9.

In the town of Hojancha near the epicenter, city official Kenia Campos said the quake knocked down some houses and landslides blocked two roads.

"So far, we don't have victims," she said. "People were really scared ... We have had moderate quakes but an earthquake (this strong) hadn't happened in more than 50 years."

There were no initial reports of damage or deaths in the capital of San Jose, said Douglas Salgado, a geographer with Costa Rica's National Commission of Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention.

Salgado said, however, officials were having problem accessing the earthquake zone or reaching people there and were flying over the area to assess damage to highways and other structures.

The earthquake didn't knock out phones or electricity in the capital 88 miles (141 kilometers) from the epicenter, Salgado said by telephone, but communications were down near the epicenter.

"There's chaos in San Jose because it was a strong earthquake of long duration," Salgado said. "It was pretty strong and caused collective chaos."

At the Hotel Punta Islita in the Guanacaste area, "everybody is crying a lot and the telephone lines are saturated," said worker Diana Salas, speaking by telephone, but she said was no damage there

In the coastal town of Nosara in northwest Costa Rica, trees shook violently and light posts swayed. Teachers chased primary school students outside.

A tsunami warning was in effect for Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin. It said it was unknown if a tsunami was generated, but the warning was based on the size of the earthquake.
source: http://abcnews.go.com

M7.6 - 10km NE of Hojancha, Costa Rica2012-09-05 14:42:10 UTC
Summary

Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS, NEIC, Golden, Colorado (and predecessors)

General

50 km

20 mi

Powered by Leaflet

Costa Rica
10.120°N, 85.347°W
Depth: 40.8km (25.4mi)

Event Time

2012-09-05 14:42:10 UTC

2012-09-05 08:42:10 UTC-06:00 at epicenter

2012-09-05 08:42:10 UTC-06:00 system time

Nearby Cities

10km (6mi) NE of Hojancha, Costa Rica

11km (7mi) ESE of Nicoya, Costa Rica

30km (19mi) ESE of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica

44km (27mi) SW of Canas, Costa Rica

140km (87mi) W of San Jose, Costa Rica

All Regions	Pacific Ocean	Hawaiʻi	Indian Ocean	Caribbean Sea
Page last loaded at: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:05:08 UTC. Tsunami Messages for All Regions (Past 30 days) Click on the map or table below for more information.

All Regions	Pacific Ocean	Hawaiʻi	Indian Ocean	Caribbean Sea
Page last loaded at: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:59:18 UTC. Tsunami Messages for the Pacific Ocean (Past 30 days) Click on the map or table below for more information. Image last created on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:58:43 UTC.

Powerful earthquake reported in Costa Rica

DANICA COTO,

Updated 9:08 a.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2012

NOSARA, Costa Rica (AP) — A powerful, magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and a wide swath of Central America on Wednesday, collapsing some houses, blocking highways and causing panic, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.